lapid and bennett, both of whom are not focused in the main on foreign policy and security issues but on social and economic ones so it's a paradox, in order to maintain his relevance as a foreign policy national security guy-- which is his strong suit-- the fact is he does need a better relationship with obama because obama holds the key on that front, certainly on iran. >> reporter: speaking of iran-- and i'll come back to that relationship-- is what the president saided in an interview with israeli television, will that comfort israelis? >> it certainly should comfort israelis. after all, the record suggests that the administration has worked very, very hard on the iranian challenge and the president has said that take my word, we're not interested in containing iran, we're interested in preventing iran from developing nuclear technology. i think it should assuage israelis who are concerned about this issue i wonder why-- and this seems to be part of the conversation in washington-- that israelis need an american president to show some deep emotional attachment to affirm their root